Fuel system

   As most of you,I always had a soft spot for the DC-8.So I was thrilled by JF's making one for us.

It was,and is the best one on the market,yet it is full of problems and inconsistencies.You sometimes wonder about the designers:the tutorial flight has a cruise altitude of 32500 ft?Where did these folks

get their NAV training?

  I purchased 10-40 and 50-70 series,well realising their flaws.I soon found out a number of systems are

dummies:pneumatic crossfeed,low pressure pneumatic system,recirc fans,freon compressors.The Aux hydraulic pump never performs as should,it does not seem to give any pressure.The pressurisation system seems to give us a cabin pressure related to the altitude,but only automatically,no manual interference.Also the cabin ROC or ROD gauge does not work at all.The inversed NAV1/ADF1 and NAV2/ADF2 gauges are very irritating to me,especially as this item does not seem to be fixed in the

50-70 series:come on guys,how hard can this be?Where in the 10-40 series it was possible to have

the stairs at the entrances approach the entrance by the shift E3 command,this seems gone in the 50-70 series.I really like the glass cockpit additions in the later DC-8's,but why is it not possible to have a

blow up of the map,only of the EADI?

 But the system that gave me the most headaches is the fuel system.I have spent hours and hours trying

to figure it out,and though I have learned to work with it somehow,a lot remains puzzling.For the sake of others,I want to tell what I learned:(most of this is for the DC-8-73F)

First of all,you cannot,as should be, start the nr 3 engine.You must start nr1,then nr2 then 3 and 4.

The FWD AUX tank is a dummy,you cannot fill it and you best leave its tank lever in the OFF position

ThE CTR WING AUX can be filled and used.You can even use it to start an engine:open the ctr wing aux

tank,put it's boost pump on,open the main or aux tank of the engine you want to start,and do the normal start procedure (but again:first engine 1,then 2...).The comments that were of most use to me

were those of jdetrick in this forum.I really advise you all to read them to understand how the real

DC-8 fuel system was used.It also made me acutely aware of the fact that to really use this fuel system,you should have operating fill valves,but in this sim,they are,...you guessed it,dummies.

  In spite of all the negative here,I keep on believing in this plane.I still am glad they released it,however imperfect.Is a cooperation between JF and the very knowledgeable Mr. Paul Golding 

impossible?Paul already had some quite advanced DC-8  in the making,and I am sad he was unable

to finish it.

  It is a strange thing,I own most of the advanced PMDG stuff ,yet I keep longing for the primitive DC-8.It gave a pilot things to do.I for myself,cannot put it aside,however imperfect it's  present condition.
Please JF people,I am sure I am not alone in this,give it another try,makes us a thrilling update,do

restore that fuel system as you originally ment it to be.We the people who use it,prefer this,whatever the JF company executives may think .